Kyle G. Ingham Local Government Services Director Panhandle Regional Planning Commission Amarillo, TX

Transcription

1 Kyle G. Ingham Local Government Services Director Panhandle Regional Planning Commission Amarillo, TX

2 Authorized under Local Government Code 391 in 1965 The purpose of this chapter is to encourage and permit local governmental units to: join and cooperate to improve the health, safety, and general welfare of their residents; and plan for the future development of communities, areas, and regions so that: Transportation is improved Public Health grows Agriculture and Business are recognized Healthful Surroundings are recognized Historical and Cultural Values are Preserved Efficient and Economical Use of public funds is commensurate

3 Transportation Providers PRPC has no direct transportation services. Metropolitan Planning Organization Staff Member Sits on Amarillo MPO Services Provider As such not a major destination of public Transportation

4 Area Agency on Aging Dispute Resolution Regional Services Workforce Development Regional Services Criminal Justice Emergency Preparedness Solid Waste Mgmt. Local Government Services Economic Development Regional Transportation Water Planning Local Services Parks Infrastructure

5 Began Public Transportation Planning in 2006 Adopted first regional plan in 2007 Utilized consultant for first plan development By 2011 over 90% of identified strategies implemented Serve as a neutral meeting and planning entity Private, urban, and rural transportation providers now talk Forum for service providers to meet with transportation Conducted comprehensive update with 2011 Plan Developed Plan Internally Utilized Strategic Planning Methods from other planning

6 Utilized philosophies from Regional Water Planning Identify available resources Establish localized demand Identify gaps between resources and demand (Needs) Generate viable strategies to address Needs Established Comprehensive Processes to: Find where resources are Where in the region are transportation resources? What is the availability of those resources? What restrictions are there on those resources? Establish Demand What to Service Providers see as transportation needs What do transportation users see as needs

7 Make Friends Establish Relationships Involve key members in planning group Spend time explaining why regional transportation planning is important These friends will be the people you are asking for information Listen to Smart People Utilize experts to help design questions What they want to know is what it is important to find out Recognize that different groups want different information Don t limit the information you are looking for to what others have done.

8 This is what has worked in our region Each region will likely be very different This is a hybrid of what we have done and what we plan on doing this next time We learned some lessons (good and bad) Realize that we are looking for more than: How many busses are in Roberts County

9 Identify everyone in the region providing public transportation MPO (City Public Transportation) Rural Public Transportation Providers We are lucky there is only 1 major in our region School Districts Senior Care Facilities Churches Rehabilitative Services Companies Taxi & Private Bus Companies Home Health Care Providers Others that come to the table

10 Communicate with each transportation provider Call them to tell them who you are Request a visit so they know you are not a salesman Invite them to a planning meeting Invite some of them to be on the Planning Group Actually listen to what they say Don t have a pre-explanation for what you think they will say Just chat about the industry We had to learn about different bus types and pay methods This is also a great way to learn about other providers Once a relationship is established Then you can get contact information Ensure your list of transportation providers is comprehensive

11 2 Options on Survey Types Short More likely to get returned Long Get much more information We opted for long (7 pages) We banked on the relationship resulting in good response Utilize a Focus Group Take the experts and put them around the table Snowball ideas and brainstorm Establish the most important questions to ask Get you a Survey Guy We utilized the local University Ensure questions are logical and not loaded Use the term Survey Methodology they love it

12 Final Input from your Planning Group Many of them will be taking it Can prevent embarrassing errors Call Each Recipient and Let Them Know its Coming Leave Messages as Appropriate Don t be harassing Just a Friendly Heads-Up Mail the Things out Utilize clearly marked envelopes Provide pre-paid return envelope This is 2015 Why not just ? Because the often gets deleted before it is opened This is an unfortunate truth these days

13 Put a survey option online We utilized Qualtrics because of its linear regression capacity Survey Monkey is a cheaper option Some people feel this is a quicker option to take the survey online Be user friendly (and flexible) Allow people to submit online (from a link in a cover letter); or Allow people to submit hard copy via pre-paid envelope We actually ended up entering the hard copies into Qualtrics when they came in for tabulation purposes

14 Ensure the Information Comes in as Uniform as Possible Much easier to analyze and tabulate Thank each entity for submitting when you get it in You will likely be following up someday Enter data from the hard copies as it comes in It can become overwhelming if you let it stack up Track who you still need information from It is amazing how often you run across people and if you know their status you can get things in casual conversation

15 After a month: Send a reminder packet to everyone that has not responded Offer to be available via phone call if they need help After 6 weeks: Call your friends that have still not responded Be respectful of their time, but After 2 months: Call one more time and offer to walk them through Our goal was a 90% response rate We got very close

16 Utilize the tools available to you Xcel is great for building a basic database If you use Qualtrics it will tabulate and analyze data for you Your local university likely has the SPSS software that has gotten very easy to use Your Xcel Spreadsheet can even be imported It depends on what you want to do

17 This is the most basic function of this process List the assets by type and owner List the assets by type and location List the assets by availability Step 2 of the Inventory would be to Identify assets by age Identify assets by mileage Identify assets by public/private Why?: Because what each asset can legally do is very different It depends on: How it was funded Who owns it What it is being used for

18 You went to all of this trouble to inventory these assets If like us you used a long survey you have lots of information Conduct a linear regression on multiple factors This establishes correlations between 2 factors For example: Age of bus correlates to public or private in our region Mileage correlates to urban/rural in our region Aging or rehab destination on routs correlates to waits This is some useful stuff to know, right? We utilized a professor at our local University He was relatively inexpensive He broke down things like R Squared and Spurious Relationships

19 Sift through the data Ask your focus group what is most important You can t show all of the data so identify the most important parts Make it understandable Most people don t care for linear regressions, so break out what the correlations mean in text Utilize a summary page as appropriate Ultimately, get it in your regional plan update

20 TxDOT Likely paid for the research As such: ensure it ends up in the plan update Your friends gave you the information Get a copy of the final plan to everyone who responded If you have a website Put it on the world wide web If your brave your could even issue a press release Be very careful not to let your friends get skewered

21 Getting Useful Information for an Inventory is a Pain-inthe-Rear Unfortunately, you can t just work up a survey, send it out, and toss it together and expect it to be meaningful. Our moderate success in this area is tied to relationship building. Relationships built the survey, got us responses, and provided a meaningful use for the data If you are going to the trouble of bothering people You might as well do a statistical analysis of what you get

22 We went through a similar process with our region s Service Providers (great response rates) Public Transpiration Users (lower response rates) The really interesting thing occurred when: We did data analysis between the 3 groups You have to align your survey questions so they match in areas I suggest writing a survey/data person in future planning Please remember that this is just a piece of a larger process related to Gap Analysis

23 Basic Information Provider type Type of Services Provided Fleet Capacity Size, age, wheelchair, etc. Most/Least populous route Busy/Slow Hours Vacant Seat Count Counties Served Most Important Thing Use of Voucher Programs Level of Assistance Curb-to-Curb Door-to-Door, etc. Trip Purposes (checklist) Geographic Area Fee Structures Eligibility Requirements Vehicle Miles Traveled Challenges (checklist) Equipment Purchase Source

24 Questions Kyle G. Ingham Local Government Services Director Panhandle Regional Planning Commission (806)